Search This Blog

Exploring Kilvickeon Beach

Saturday afternoon was spent near Kilvickeon Beach. One of my favourite beaches in Mull, last time I was in that area was with the VMSG field trip last summer where a day was spent looking at the geology near Scoor. Today was just one of those wander about days, taking pictures of things that caught my fancy.Perfect way to end a hectic week!

The beach and the tidal island of Garbh Eilean. Deserted!. There is a rather neat sill in the distance so I went to have a look at it

Garbh Eilean on the way to the sill

The country rock here is Moine metasediments of the Ardalanish Striped and Banded Formation. Some neat pelitic layers with garnets can be found. This was in a huge block that had fallen from above:

The garnets are quite small as you can see

The sill is nearby:

The sill (of Palaeocene age) is much younger than the Moine rocks it is intruded into. It stands out really well as it is a distinctive brown colour. The Moine rocks are mainly grey

The top of the sill has a lot of these fragments of country rock sticking in it. I suppose these are roof pendants rather than xenoliths. Quite a lot of them to be found

There is also a natural arch /bridge in the sill where it has eroded away. The waves were crashing in and because of the tide I wasnt able to get under this feature. Would be neat to see it from below:

Not a great pic as it was really awkward to photograph, but that is the sea below and the rock in the top left hand part of the photo is the "bridge"

Heading back, I had a good look at the contact of the sill with the Moine

Moine underneath, sill above. Chilled margin is obvious in the field. Note the lump of Mine rock that has broken off and forms a xenolith in the sill, just above the ruler

Some of the mica rich rocks were very shiny in the sun. Full of garnets as well:

Again, this wasnt in situ but from a fallen block. The whole shore at this point is covered in large boulders from the cliff above

A final look at the sill before heading off to the next location:

The brown colour is more obvious in this picture and what really stands out is where a large chunk has broken off leaving an ochre coloured scar. It wasnt like that the last time I was here!

From the beach I headed back up the hill and then over to the hill called Dun a' Gheaird. The remains of an old hill fort can be seen here, part of the wall is clearly visible.

Heading up towards Dun a' Gheaird, looking down on the beach

The view west from Dun a'Gheaird. Lots of little headlands and bays

Light starting to fade. View from the shore looking back up to the Dun. Last time I was here was about 10 years ago.

The metamorphic rocks on the shore are really impressive. The bedding is nearly vertical in places and the rock is very fissile.

From here it was a quick haul back up the hill and over to the road and back to the car. A great afternoon out!

Get link

Facebook

Twitter

Pinterest

Google+

Email

Other Apps

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Took a stroll along the newly repaired Lighthouse path that goes to Rubha nan Gall. Great views over to Morvern, up Loch Sunart and over to Kilchoan. I wanted to have a look at the geology esp since if there had been some digging going on during the path upgrade, then there might be some goodies to see. Here in pictures is what you can see on the path. Of historic interest, this is the location where Prof Heddle discovered the mineral Tobermorite.

The new gate on the path
A bit further on, there are some neat dykes on the shore at Rubha na Leip:

The smaller of the 2 dykes, about 0.5m across

The larger of the dykes - about 3m in width and showing very pronounced columnar jointing.Both dykes run NW-SE - Classic "Mull Swarm" stuff.
Further along the path there are some interesting amygdales to be seen in the cliff face above the path. Some of the rock here has been recently excavated so is quite fresh. 50p for scale. It was in amygdales that Prof Heddle found Tobermorite, but …

I had a visit out to Ulva Ferry today. There are loads of nice places over that way to stop for lunch and my favourite has to be the Eas Fors waterfall at Camus an Lagain just north of Lagganulva. Its easy to get to although the path was a bit soggy today. It is a great waterfall with some really interesting geology near by. Because of the amount of rain , the waterfall was fairly pouring over the edge today. Here are some photos:

First up however is this view from the track looking up the cliff above the main road - there is a red bole bed in there that is very obvious and very red. It is also quite thin and forms a very distinct layer. I went for a closer look later

Red bole in cliff above road
Moving on to the waterfall. The rocks above are basalt lavas for the most part plus some mugearites. There is also an obvious volcanic ash at the base - this also extends out along the shore.

The weather forecast was good for the 28th so I decided to have a look at the Carsaig area. During the VMSG field trip in September, I wasnt able to make this particular day due to other commitments so it was a case of catching up. Carsaig is a favourite are of mine - I first visited it as an undergraduate from St Andrews in November 1979 - Dr. Colin Donaldson led the trip. I have always enjoyed going back there - there is simply so much geology to see in one small area. I reckon it is the best location in Mull for geology trips - a lot to see in a small area. And a great mixture of sedimentary as well as igneous. You really get to see and appreciate how the later Palaeogene volcanic rocks have been intruded and erupted onto the earlier (Jurassic and Cretaceous) landscape, Here are some pictures and further details!

View from the old pier looking west towards the cliffs.

View from the shore, again looking over to the cliffs.Cliffs are mainly Palaogene lavas and minor intrucions with J…